Another Halloween. Elliot’s favorite holiday by far. This year he’s obsessed with Pennywise.
We did so many Halloween activities this month. It was crazy. I’ll update this post later with some of them, but before I forget:
“You’re not my friend, mister!” Elliot yelled that at one of the horseback riders chasing us on the Haunted Hayride. Everyone on the hayride laughed!
Tonight was our 3rd visit to both the Cottoncreek Haunted House and the Star Wars themed house nearby. When we got home, I showed Elliot his first Star Wars clip: the cantina scene in the first Star Wars. Buttface. Baba Lou. R2D2 he calls R2E2 and Gredo he calls “Burrito”. He had another name for C-3PO but I can’t remember it.
April Price. “He’s doing really well. He still takes naps. He knows all the letters I introduce. He counts to 13. He eats his food fairly well. Silliness sometimes at the wrong time, but he is easily redirected. He’s got great, big ideas. One of the things I talked to him about… sometimes his stories he’s telling them as if they are true. One of things the I told him is that people should know it’s a story. That’s important because sometimes kids can tell something to adults, then the adult doesn’t know what’s true.
He’s friends with everyone. Does not have a ‘best buddy’ but that does not seem to matter.”
“He wants to make people laugh. He’s a great listener. He stops behavior when redirected.”
April mentioned Elliot’s lunches, “They are so good, I want to eat them. They really are fabulous.” I typically pack smoked salmon, hard boiled egg, cheese, cucumbers, peppers, carrots, apples, bananas, or strawberries instead of the bananas. Used to include hummus, but I stopped.
He said how happy Elliot is, that he’s a good kid and sweet. The only time he saw Elliot sad was when he threw up. And even then, Elliot apologized to me for it. He threw up on me during our walk in the Cottonwood Forest next to the bike path.
Quinn also commented several times on how smart he thinks Elliot is, and that he has an amazing memory… remembering things from 2 or more years ago when he was a baby.
Elliot doesn’t say “Exuse Me” all the time now. But he does still say “Let me tell you something “ all the time and “Hey Daddy, guess what? I love you.”
He says that cats make sand castles in their cat boxes after they poop.
Last year during the Halloween season, at age 3 1/2, I showed Elliot “Thriller” video by Michael Jackson. He did not have the patience to wait for the monster part, possibly did not understand or care about the beginning with the boy and girl scene.
This year, he gets it! He spent the next two hours asking me about werewolves and to watch it again.
A mother at Waterworks Swim School talked to me and Elliot this morning as we entered the pool area.
We see her often because she brings her son for lessons, too.
Today she said to us that Elliot is charismatic. “He’ll be popular, but that’s not the right word. I mean he’s charismatic. Cool. He has this aura about him.” It was clear she really like Elliot even though she’d never spoken to to him, just observed him.
Later, Elliot asked me what she said, and I tried to explain so he’d understand.
On our way to slay the Goblin King, or at least scare him away. He lives in the giant culvert tunnel a mile or so from home. Why? Because he is eating the rabbits in the neighborhood. We won’t stand for it anymore. Just who do you think you are, Goblin King? Elmer Fudd or something?
The first part of the video is us exploring the tunnel. And although we don’t mention the Goblin King in the video, we very much pretended he lived there and had to slay him. The 2nd part of the video is my favorite. Elliot is sleeping in a wagon while I pull him home after our adventure. We’ve done this several times, and he looks forward to it.
Elliot is not afraid of ghosts, monsters, the dark or anything else like that.
He’s afraid of “bi-coties” (coyotes). We talk about them almost every day. He asks if I’ll protect him from them. He says that “doing this” (waving his arms above his head so he appears bigger) does not help because he is little.
He asks what happens if he hits a bicotie with a hammer. Every time we pass Marcy Gulch trail by the “synagogue”, which is actually a Mormon church, he asks “is that where the bicoties live?” (I once confirmed to him they lived there, which they probably do during the day).
He does not like to be out at night because that’s when the bicoties roam. He always helps me to get Grendel inside before bed because I’ve told him that there bicoties might get Grendel, and they got Fritz and Spinachi before Elliot was born.
I asked if he would search for the Fort Souville Mystery with me in France one day. He said no because it’s in a forest, and that’s where bicoties live.
He asks if it’s better to hit a bicotie on the nose or the belly. He wants to hit the belly if they attack him.
This is not a new fear. He’s talked like this for more than a year.
He points to his sharp tooth and asks what it’s called. “Canine,” I say. And he asks if he should bite the bicotie with it if attacked.
I wonder if he knows that Chinle, his dog, is part bicotie. I don’t tell him because I don’t any chance that he would fear Chinle.
On a magnificent walk today with Elliot, which I will write about later, he saw the leaves of a tree next to the playground had dropped and turned gold.
“Look, Daddy! The leaves fell! It’s Fall! And the leaves turned color!”
He was so excited. We looked at another tree that had done the same. But most trees haven’t dropped their leaves yet, so this was definitely novel. Of course , he’s seen this before in his life, but not many times. And I’d say only the last Fall, in 2021 when he was 3 (now he is 4), was he aware enough to comment on it.
On a walk on the bike path yesterday, I saw a rabbit with its head missing. Look closely: there is a pile of poop or something odd next to its missing head. And the rest of the body looks intact.
I showed this to Elliot. We was excited and wanted to see it. He kept asking if the “bicoties” killed the rabbit. I sang “Kill the Wabbit” by Elmer Fudd. We set out on an adventure. Because it was a long way for a 4-year old, more than a mile, I put Elliot in a wagon (first time!) and pulled him there. He asked if it is near the synagogue. It’s a Mormon church that he calls a synagogue. I’m not sure why. But yes, it was around there.
We never did find the rabbit, even though we searched quite a bit. We ended up at the culvert tunnels and played and played.
There was a very large prickly pear cactus in bloom. We did what we saw Coyote Peterson do on his YouTube channel: we squeezed some prickly pears through Elliot’s sock to drink the juice. It wasn’t really worth the effort: I got a cactus needle stuck in a finger which later got infected for about a week.
We had SO much fun! The best part was little Elliot falling asleep in the wagon as I pulled him home. We had so much excitement and adventure that he just fell asleep and enjoyed the ride.
